Death lorry victims were all Chinese nationals
Investigation continues into the death of 39 people found in a lorry in Essex
INVESTIGATIONS continue into the finding of 39 death people in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Grays, Essex, on Wednesday.
In a statement Essex Police said there were eight women and 31 men among the 39 people found.
The force, which said the case is the largest murder investigation in its history, said officers have confirmed the are all Chinese nationals.
A statement said: "Of these, 38 are believed to be adults, and one is a young adult woman. We previously reported that she may have been a teenager. We have since confirmed that eight of the deceased are women and 31 are men and all are believed to be Chinese nationals. We arrested a man on suspicion of murder, who remains in custody.
"We want to be clear - we have not speculated about the identity of this man, and we will not do so. We can confirm that three properties in County Armagh have been searched in connection with our investigation.
"The lorry has since been removed from the industrial park to allow the next stage of our investigative process to be conducted in peace, and to give the utmost dignity to those within the trailer as we prepare for a coroner's post-mortem examination.
"Each of the 39 people must undergo a full coroner's process to establish a cause of death, before we move on to attempting to identify each individual within the trailer. This will be a substantial operation and, at this stage, we cannot estimate how long these procedures will take."
The force confirmed details about the movements of the lorry's tractor, the front part including the driver's cab.
The statement said: "Our lines of enquiry are extensive and will be thorough. This means that we might not have all the answers straight away.
We do have some key facts, which are:
"The tractor unit of the lorry had entered the country via Holyhead on Sundaym October 20, having travelled over from Dublin.
"The lorry then collected the trailer, which had travelled from Zeebrugge, at the port of Purfleet at around 12.30am on October 23. The cab and trailer left the port shortly after 1.05am.
"We were called to Waterglade Industrial Park in Eastern Avenue shortly before 1.40am on Wednesday October 23 by our colleagues in the East of England Ambulance Service to reports that 39 people had been found dead in the trailer of a lorry."
Police are continuing to question a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland on suspicion of murder.
Shaun Sawyer, the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and the National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking, said the incident is a tragedy that law enforcement, NGOs, the church and faith groups are working "every single moment of every single day" to prevent.
"So how many have we prevented? How many lives that we saved? Turn it on its head.
"It will be hundreds and thousands. But sadly, tragically, for 39 people that didn't work yesterday," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mr Sawyer said: "You can't turn the United Kingdom into a fortress."
He said even if there were routes that were perceived as easier to get through, organised criminals would still exploit people who do not access those routes.
"The vulnerable, the women, the children, the non-English speakers - that happened in places like Syria who are exploited," he said.
"So that's a matter of policy for government about ease of access and routes, but conversely, all the time that we see people as commodity, and organised crime sees people as commodity, they will abuse any system, anywhere, any time, and that's what this is about... people as commodity and purveyors of hope actually dealing in despair."
Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted: "This morning I met officers from Essex Police to express my thanks for their response to the tragic incident in Grays & receive an update on the investigation. I stand behind them as they continue their work to establish how this horrific event came to happen."